Skullguard for welding helmets



Nov. 9, 1954 Filed Dec. 28, 1950 2 Sheds-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ANTHON MATH) ATTORNEY NOV. 9, 1954 AT 2,693,596

SKULLGUARD FOR WELDING HELMETS Filed D90. 28, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 la la INVENTOR.

ANTHON MATHY BYZM {a 7 ATTORNEY United States PatentjO SKULLGUARD FOR WELDING HELMETS Anton Mathy, Newark, Ohio, assignor to The Pure Oil Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Ohio Application December 28, 1950, Serial No. 203,169

1 Claim. (Cl. 23)

This invention relates to a safety headpiece for a welders face shield, and to similar protective devices, and is concerned primarily with a particular construction of headpiece to which any form of face shield may be attached, wherein a balance is attained between the desired resilience for comfort and safety and the rigidity necessary for firm attachment to the head of the wearer.

Welding helmets are of two general classes. Those which are mere face shields with no head protection from falling objects, or those with a protective headpiece which are heavy, cumbersome and tend to fall off the head in ordinary use. One of the main objections welders have to the present forms of hard hat or helmet and welders shield combinations is that the cradled, hammock-type of headgear within the hard hat or helmet gives a loose connection between the same and the wearers head. This gives an insecure feeling to the wearer and lost motion when the head is moved from side to side or forward and backward which is extremely tiring to the wearer.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a safety headpiece or skull guard for a welders face shield which rests securely on the wearers head in a balanced, comfortable position during use.

A second object of this invention is to provide a head gear and skull guard arrangement to which a welders face shield can be attached, wherein the weight of the skull guard and shield are brought to the top of the wearers head through resilient and shock absorbing means.

A third object of this invention is the provision of a new arrangement of head band and headpiece saddle, and their attachment to a skull guard, giving both stablllty and comfort to the wearer.

In the following description of the invention, the term Skull guard shall be interpreted to mean any form of hard hat, headpiece, or shell suitable for fitting over a wearers head to provide protection from falling objects and a means of support for a welders shield The welders shield, which is not shown in the drawings, is not a part of this invention and may be any form of welders shield designed for attachment to a skull guard. Such shields are generally made of hard pressed paper with a window in the front portion for observation of the work. One suitable type of welders face shield is shown in United States Patent Reissue 20,790, by F. M. Bowers.

The skull guard proper may be composed of any llght strong material which has a high resistance to shock. In addition, the material used in the skull guard should be moldable, relatively inert to common solvents and chemicals, a non-conductor of electricity, non-inflammable, and warp-proof. For this purpose, certain of the phenolic resins and plastics are highly suitable, especially when constructed in laminated form with animal or vegetable fibers. Phenolic-aniline, melamine, and urea plastics are illustrative materials of construction for the skull guard. Other materials, such as the laminated phenolics, glass laminates, and plastics composed of vinyl chloride-acetate, polystyrene, and polyamide are also suitable.

The invention is best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a top view of the skull guard.

Figure 2 is an elevation of side view of the skull guard.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 3-3 in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a half-elevation taken along lines 4--4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view along lines 5-5 of Figure 1.

One form of the present invention comprises a skull guard 6 having a substantially uniform frontal curvature 7-8 and a rearwardly extending deflecting portion 9-10 for the protection of the back of the neck of the wearer as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The front curved surface 7-8 is designed so that the welders face shield, when attached in a pivotable manner will swing from a position in front of the welders face to a raised position without impinging upon the skull guard. More precisely, the curved surface 7-8 may be described as the surface of a quadrasphere having a radius of curvature equal to the distance from the front part of the skull guard to the axis of rotation, the center line 11 (Figure l) of holes 12 extending through skull guard 6.

Holes or apertures 12, located in bosses 13, form a bearing and support means for the attachment of the welders face shield in the manner above described. A pivotal and frictional connection (not shown) may be used for the purpose of attaching the face shield to the skull guard at holes 12 so that it may be raised or lowered easily and will remain in either position under conditions of use. United States Patents 2,402,431, by J. L. Morow and Reissue 20,790, by F. M. Bowers, describe pivotal friction devices which may be used for this purpose.

The top surface of the skull guard 6 is corrugated to form reinforcing ribs 14, shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5, made as an integral part of the skull guard when it is molded. Within skull guard 6 is located the head gear made up of adjustable head band 15 and headpiece saddle 16. These head gear pieces are sufiiciently wide to provide a comfortable surface of contact with the wearers head. The head gear pieces are constructed of light strong material which is resistant to perspiration and shrinkage. For this purpose, such materials as leather, imitation leather, pressed paper compositions, plastic fabrics, laminates of plastic and synthetic textile fibers, are suitable.

The size of head band 15 is adjustable to the head of the wearer by any known means of adjustment. One such means comprises the device described in U. S. Patents 2,205,741 and 2,205,742. The external knurled Wheel 17 represents the means of adjustment of head band 15 which may be used in accordance with these patents. Headpiece saddle 16 extends the entire distance across the top of the head of the wearer and is fastened at its terminae to head band 15 by means of fiat-headed rivets 18. For purposes of rigidity, two rivets 18 may be used at each juncture of head band 15 and headpiece saddle 16. Headpiece saddle 16 is fastened to skull guard 6 through resilient blocks 19. Resilient blocks 19 may be made of sponge or foam rubber or any other shock absorbing material. These blocks will measure in width approximately the same as the head band and headpiece saddle.

Headpiece saddle 16 is fastened through resilient blocks 19 to skull guard 6. The surfaces of contact between the headpiece saddle, resilient blocks, and skull guard may be glued together or secured as shown in Figure 5, wherein resilient blocks 19 have metal pieces 20 and 21 tightly bonded to their surfaces of contact and rivets 22 serve to fasten the blocks to both the headpiece saddle and skull guard. Rivets 22 may be an integral part of metal pieces 20 and 21 or fastened therein by means of screw threads. The front portion of head band 15 is fastened directly to front lower portion of skull guard 6. This point of attachment is shown at rivet 23. This arrangement provides a comfortable easily fabricated and balanced combination.

Two separate resilient blocks are shown in Figure 5. However, the invention is not to be limited thereby and any number of blocks may be used to cushion the head gear from the skull guardfor example, one resilient block extending the entire distance across the space between the headpiece saddle and skull guard between the points of attachment shown in Figure 5 may be used.

The safety skull guard with the new head band and headpiece saddle arrangement, thus far described, has been found to be free from the objectionable features common to skull guard and welding shield combinations heretofore in use. These objections have been overcome by fastening the head band 15 directly to the front of the skull guard 6 as shown in Figure 3 by rivet 23. This provides rigidity at the exact point where'previously'any normal movement during use caused the skull guard and shield to shift, with resultant discomfort and fatigue to the welder. This rigid arrangement in combination with the headpiece saddle 16 and resilient blocks 19 gives the desired resistance to shock from falling objects on the skull guard without sacrificing otherlsafety features of the unit. The improvements in safety skull guards for welding shields described herein are readily incorporated by presently known fabricating machinery and cooperate with such exisitng advancements as the adjustable head band andpivotal friction attachment for the face shield incorporated by reference'to the prior patent art.

The preferred specific embodiments of the invention have been set forthindetail, but it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the exactsillusstrations given and described, and the only limitations on the invention appear inithe appended claim.

What is claimed is:

Ina skull guard for a welders face shield, the combination of a hard protective shell having a uniformly curved front portion and a rearwardly extending back adapted to pivotably support a face shield in nonimpinging relationship to said curved front portion, an adjustable head band within said shell to encircle the head of the wearer, and rigidly fastened to said shell at the front bottom portion thereof, a headpiece saddle band fastened at the sides of said head band and extending across the inner top of said shell, said headpiece saddle band being resiliently mounted to said shell by a resilient mounting therebetween, and adapted to place the load of said shell directly on the top of the wearers head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Lightfield May 23, 1922 Bowers Aug. 1, 1939 'Woehler Sept. 7, 1943 Strauss Feb. 22, 1944 .Myers et a1 Dec. 7, 1948 Number 

